Bilingual Literacy of an Indonesian Third Grader in Transnational Context

Bilingual literacy practices within the power hegemony of English-only classroom are increasingly being challenged in this century. However, there remains a dearth of research on Indonesian children navigating their language and literacy learning in transnational contexts. This article examines evidences of an Indonesian – U.S. transnational third grader honing her literacy skills in the new social and schooling system. Using a case method with interviews and observations, the focal participant’s reading and writing ability was documented. Findings show that the focal participant had demonstrated emergent awareness and knowledge of English language as she engaged in print-based activities and conversations about prints. Through translanguaging, the focal participant was able to tap into a variety of linguistic and communicative resources to make sense of texts. Implications from this study highlight meaningful learning experiences for transnational students’ literacy development and how literacy learning in such contexts can be reconceptualized.